Student Loan Question

astreix

If someone decides not to take a student loan at the start of their undergraduate course - can they later if needed apply for a loan?
I plan to pay for my daughter's uni fees and living costs  - however if circumstances changed in future would be good to know that this option exists.

Shakin_Steve

From the web page:

If you’re a student from England you can apply online for the following academic years:

• 2021 to 2022 (part-time students can apply from summer 2021)
• 2020 to 2021

You can apply for:

• Tuition Fee Loans
• Maintenance Loans
• Maintenance Grants (only if your course started before 1 August 2016)
• 
  

You can apply up to 9 months after the start of the academic year for your course.

Spendless

I have a son at Uni each year we have to apply again for his maintenance loan. Not sure if we get asked about his tuition though.
May I ask why you're going to pay all these costs up front though? Most students (around 83%) do not repay the full amount back. You only start paying back when you earn above a certain salary and only so much. Anything left after 30 years is written off. If it was re-labelled as a graduate tax, parents wouldn't pay it upfront. The maintenance loan however might not be enough for the student to live on as it's dependant on household income. Our son receives the minimum, wo we pay his rent (which includes bills) for him. 
Have a look at the articles on this site about it. There's also a dedicated student board further down this forum if you want to know/understand further.  

astreix

Thanks Spendless - it is a good question on why pay upfront - to be honest have been in double mind about this for weeks now.
It is true that unless she does very well in her career she may never have to repay the whole amount - but eventually it came down to the fact that I (for now) can afford to pay for her and she is a very bright student so fingers crossed if she does well her career I'd rather she doesn't have a debt accruing at a ridiculously high rate of interest  

Spendless

astreix said:

Thanks Spendless - it is a good question on why pay upfront - to be honest have been in double mind about this for weeks now.
It is true that unless she does very well in her career she may never have to repay the whole amount - but eventually it came down to the fact that I (for now) can afford to pay for her and she is a very bright student so fingers crossed if she does well her career I'd rather she doesn't have a debt accruing at a ridiculously high rate of interest  

It doesn't make any difference though, unless she's going to earn enough to pay it all back over her career, how much the interest is. It just makes a difference to the amount they write off at the end.  Have a read of some of the articles here about it.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/students/student-loans-tuition-fees-changes/

Shakin_Steve

My son is in his 4th year at Sheffield uni, doing a masters. He has been accepted for a PhD in September, but earlier promises of funding have suddenly gone quiet. We sat down and worked out that, if funding is not forthcoming, he can take out a doctoral loan with SLC and, unless he earns megabucks later in life, it's basically free money. The money he already owes already will probably never be paid back.

Shakin_Steve

Shakin_Steve said:

My son is in his 4th year at Sheffield uni, doing a masters. He has been accepted for a PhD in September, but earlier promises of funding have suddenly gone quiet. We sat down and worked out that, if funding is not forthcoming, he can take out a doctoral loan with SLC and, unless he earns megabucks later in life, it's basically free money. The money he already owes already will probably never be paid back.

Thought I'd better update this for accuracy. Looking into it further, the doctoral loan is separate from the earlier student loan and is paid back on different terms.
From UCAS:

Repayment

You'll be due to start making repayments either:

• the April after you finish or leave your course
• the April four years after the start of your course, if you’re on a course longer than four years 

but only if you're earning over a certain amount of money, which is currently £21,000 a year, £1,750 a month, or £404 a week. You'll be due to start repaying the April after you finish or leave your course, but only if you're earning over a certain amount of money, which is currently £21,000 a year, £1,750 a month, or £404 a week.

Any loan remaining 30 years after you’re due to start making repayments will be cancelled.

You’ll repay 6% of what you earn over the threshold. So if you’re paid monthly and earn £2,500 per month before tax, you’ll repay 6% of the difference between what you earn and the threshold.